“In 1963 the Supreme Court ruled that a confession produced under the influence of truth serum was unconstitutionally coerced, and therefore inadmissible.” Alan Bellows 2005

“Numerous decisions of this Court have established the standards governing the admissibility of confessions into evidence. If an individual’s “will was overborne” 2 or if his confession was not “the product of a rational intellect and a free will,” 3 his confession is inadmissible because coerced. These standards are applicable whether a confession is the product of physical intimidation or psychological pressure and, of course, are equally applicable to a drug-induced statement. It is difficult to imagine a situation in which a confession would be less the product of a free intellect, less voluntary, than when brought 372 U.S. 293, 308] about by a drug having the effect of a “truth serum.” MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN TOWNSEND v. SAIN, 372 U.S. 293 (1963)

Fox News is reporting that it’s A-OK to use a “truth serum” on James Holmes to get him to confess to his crimes in Aurora Co.

The defendant in the deadly Colorado theater shooting could be given “truth serum” under a court order issued Monday to help determine whether he is insane if he pleads not guilty by reason of insanity.

Suspect James Holmes could be required to submit to a “narcoanalytic interview” as part of an evaluation to determine if he was legally insane at the time of the July 20 shootings, Arpahoe County District Judge William Sylvester said.

A narcoanalylitic interview is a decades-old process in which patients are given drugs to lower their inhibition. Academic studies have shown that the technique has involved the use of sodium amytal and pentothal, sometimes called truth serum.” Fox News

The Fox story ends with some “legal expert” saying this is “clearly” legal under Colorado law.

Yeah, drugging up some patsy with a Date Rape Drug to the point they would confess to just about anything is apparently legal in Colorado, just not in the rest of the civilized world. How nice.

Why don’t they just waterboard him or hook car batteries to his nipples? They could get that bitch who made “Zero Truth CIAty” to come over and she and that hack actor from “24” can beat him with extension cords till he confesses or until their agents decide they need a bigger trailer and green room.

I mean WTF? If we are enshrining old CIA/death squad coercion tactics here in the old “Homeland”, why not go all out? Call up some old SAVOK and Ton Ton Macoute members and get them to interrogate Holmes. Oh wait… we got the original, the CIA. Nevermind

Want to know how strong that shit is? “It is also usually the first of three drugs administered during most lethal injections in the United States.”

The way it works is the barbiturate affects the higher brain functioning which makes the subject much more susceptible to suggestions from the interviewer like a “Ruffie” or the Date Rape drug.

“The common term “truth serum” refers to any number of sedative/hypnotic drugs which are used to induce honesty in a subject. In fact, truthfulness is not guaranteed by the use of such drugs; while a person under the influence of a truth serum may become talkative, or may experience reduced inhibitions or even hallucinogenic fantasies, they are still quite capable of lying. For this reason, and the obvious human and civil rights issues (which are similar to those regarding torture), any statements obtained in this manner are inadmissible in court” TV Troup

Well, that doesn’t help the Fox “News’ version of this. Neither will this quote from Alan Bellows;

Such drugs have been utilized by some of the three-letter government agencies in the not-so-distant past (CIA, FBI, DOD, KGB, etc.), particularly during the rampant paranoia of the Cold War. And in the aftermath of 9/11, there was some discussion on the idea of bringing them back into use for interrogation. But are these truth serums effective? Do they produce any useful results?

The short answer is, no. The long answer is “Noooooooooooo!” while running in slow-motion.

Many barbiturates fall under the “truth serum” category, including scopolamine, sodium amytal, and Sodium Pentothal. Scopolamine was tested in the 1950s as a truth serum in project MKULTRA, and is now infamous as a date-rape drug due to its tendency to cause retrograde amnesia (the inability to recall events prior to its administration). Sodium Pentothal is a drug which is commonly used in operating rooms as general anesthesia, though in recent years it has been largely replaced by better alternatives. Alan Bellows 2005

So let’s get this straight: after the Supreme Court ruled in TOWNSEND v. SAIN, 372 U.S. 293 (1963) that using “truth serum” to coerce “confessions” from suspects was illegal, the CIA and FBI wanted to bring back it’s use after the false flag event of 9/11.

Now here we are, looking at a specific case involving what appears to be an Operation Gladio type mass casualty event. and they are trying to bring back the CIA’s old “confession by Date Rape Drug” trick?

I would have to ask Fox News and their “legal expert” if Colorado law supersedes that of the United States Supreme court.

“It is difficult to imagine a situation in which a confession would be less the product of a free intellect, less voluntary, than when brought 372 U.S. 293, 308] about by a drug having the effect of a “truth serum.” ” MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN TOWNSEND v. SAIN, 372 U.S. 293 (1963)

Of course, their argument would be that it’s not to gain a statement of confession from Holmes during his drug induced interrogation, but rather to see if he is capable of standing trial. I disagree in that the information gleaned from this farce of a show trial move will end up in court record and will become the “confession” that is going to be plastered all across the mainstream media substituting for an actual trial. In effect, this “truth serum” CIA trick will be used to convict Holmes is the court of public opinion before his Vichy lawyers plead him out to life in prison rather than taking it to trial to evaluate the evidence against him.

In that context, I say this is just as damaging as if it were being done in the interrogation room of a sheriff’s office.

—————-

It’s That time of the month again. My little visitor is demanding satisfaction. Gotta pay Verizon or they will bust into my “cloud”… and God knows what the CIA and the FBI have put in there. Hell, I don’t even have a “cloud”.

Don’t even really know what a”cloud” is… but I know it’s kept at that new big NSA building in Utah.

I need a little help to pay the bills and keep up and running. If you can, and ONLY if you can, a few bucks on that DONATION thingy over there —> would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

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In recent 2013 alone, I can think of 2 cases in Denver where defendants claimed they were not guilty by reason of insanity: 1) A guy named Romero in the Alicia Martinez murder case 2) Bret Lee Luckett Thompson in the kidnapping and sexual assaulting an 8-year-old girl.

Juries found both of them guilty, but I never heard any sort of mention of subjecting these guys to “truth serum” to prove their insanity (not to mention I’ve never heard of it used ever).

If anything is certain, it is that this serum will bring anything EXCEPT the truth. The ridiculous of this case continues….

The fact that this is an old CIA trick used in 3rd world countries by the death squads they trained and propped up is very telling. Think about the larger implications. If this is allowed to take place and is complacently accepted by the general population, how will it be used in the future? The same way it was used in other neoliberalized countries by their death squads. Imagine the end of 1984 in the video Winston makes “confessing” his crimes.

I still believe this guy has the life expectancy of a house fly. They’ll find him hung from a bed sheet or shoe string; you know another “suicide”. Or how’s this one: After given sodium pentothal he confess to everything; heck he even signs a confession. Then he develops a severe reaction to the drug and dies of anaphylaxis.

“I would have to ask Fox News and their “legal expert” if Colorado law supersedes that of the United States Supreme court.”

Hmm, I think you’re a bit confused. Maybe you meant DECISIONS of the Supreme Court? After all, the SCOTUS, which is nothing more than a group of appointed corporate hack lawyers, doesn’t make law, and its decisions are not law. Right? Good.

I just viewed the images of Holmes from today’s hearing and, speaking of drugs, couldn’t help but notice that his pupils continue to be the size of saucers. It actually looks uncomfortable–the pupils are so large that they must be taking in far too much light than is tolerable in the brightly lit courtroom.

Holmes parents were there today. A picture of them is in the article.
The Judge put in the plea of “not guilty”
trail set for Aug. 5th.
April 1st is set for prosecution to say if they seek death penalty.
Doesn’t look good for Holmes.

I’m still struck by, what I would assume, is his natural hair color. (And I’ve never known a jail allow such repeated changes in hair style and facial hair)

Now his hair seems almost jet black, as do his eyebrows, and his beard is very dark. How were his eyebrows and the “stubble” of his facial hair reddish blonde in that first mug shot? The bright red hair was definitely a “professional” dye job, as its not simple to get dark hair that color without bleaching it first. So he definitely couldn’t have had his hair color go red-brown-red in July as the prosecution says. Your hair would fall out from the chemical damage.

I don’t see why they even care what his plea at this point — he dies either way.

I can tell you from personal experience that they do allow any change in hair style, from beards to bald, but what strikes me is the color. As far as I know, you aren’t allowed hair dyes in custody. Not because you are changing your look but because they are toxic and inmates could make all kinds of things out of the chemicals in the kits. That is really odd. His roots didn’t look that dark to me but I do remember the original photos of him, the ones of him in camp and at the school and I remember his hair was dark, just not that dark.

“Yeah, drugging up some patsy with a Date Rape Drug to the point they would confess to just about anything is apparently legal in Colorado,”
sodium amytal and pentothal,are NOT “date rape drugs” they are highly controlled anesthesia drugs , not like rohypnol and ghb ,and they are injectable ,not pills or liquid like rohypnol “roofies” or GHB

as the quote in the article points out, they are of a similar class to the date rape drugs and have a similar effect. When I call a neoliberal a “pig” I’m not saying he runs on all 4s rooting around in his own feces. and by the way, they aren’t used much as anesthesia drugs anymore either.

Well, another protected right of the accused is thrown out the window by an incompetent judge. Apparently the fifth amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees the right to remain silent doesn’t exist in this jurist’s feeble mind.